International Women’s Day

Deborah Swallow | March 8th, 2010 in : Africa, Australasia, Central America, East Asia, Europe, General, North America, Russia/Asia, South America, South Asia, The Middle East/Arab World

International Women’s Day is a global day to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.  The first IWD was launched by a woman named Clara Zetkin (German) in 1911. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, IWD is a national holiday. However, the plight of women and the hardship they still face in many countries is highlighted by many organisations – see below.

Global issues facing women include:

Females in developing countries on average carry 20 litres of water per day over 6 km

Globally, women account for the majority of people aged over 60 and over 80

Pregnant women in Africa are 180 times more likely to die than in Western Europe

530,000 women die in pregnancy or childbirth each year

Of 1.2 billion people living in poverty worldwide, 70% are women

80% of the world’s 27 million refugees are women

Women own around only 1% of the world’s land

AIDS sees women’s average life expectancy reduced to 43 in Uganda and Zambia

Women are 2/3 of the 1 billion+ illiterate adults who have no access to basic education

Read Fakhria Ibrahimi’s account of the plight of women in Afghanisaton

Official  International Women’s Day site – see how you can help bring about change in the world.

Photograph by web/graphic designer Melanie Cook, used with permission. Thank you!

Tags: Afghanistan, Fakhria Ibrahimi, International Women's Day

This entry was posted on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 2:13 am and is filed under Africa, Australasia, Central America, East Asia, Europe, General, North America, Russia/Asia, South America, South Asia, The Middle East/Arab World . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses to “ International Women’s Day ”

1. Danielle Nierenberg says:

   March 8, 2010 at 11:42 pm

   Just as an FYI, I am writing daily from Africa about food and agriculture issues for the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet blog. I’ve been focusing on highlighting women and their innovations to help alleviate hunger and poverty. Here is the link to the site http://www.nourishingtheplanet.org, feel free to check it out. I would love for you to consider cross-posting any posts or to include a link to your site. My personal diary about the trip is called BorderJumpers at http://www.borderjumpers.org. I’m headed to Ghana now, we’ve done research and written about Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana, South Africa, Madagascar, and Mauritius. Thanks again for your coverage of International Woman’s Day, Danielle Nierenberg
2. Deborah Swallow says:

   April 19, 2010 at 4:37 pm

   Hi Danielle – lovely to hear from you. I’ll be following you from now on – and best of luck with your mission. Safe travelling. Enjoy!